That's What Friends Are For
by Film Lover
Summary: Donna lends Hyde a sympathetic ear over his break-up with Jackie (takes place during iNobody's Fault But Minei).


Summary: Takes place during "Nobody's Fault But Mine"; Donna lends Hyde a sympathetic ear over his break-up with Jackie. Rating: PG Warnings: Spoilers for Nobody's Fault But Mine  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing but a 13 year old Mazda. I'm just playing with toys that belong to the nice people at Fox.  
  
Author's Note: It seemed a little out of character to me that Donna would encourage Jackie to get back together with someone who had cheated on her. I would have like to have seen a scene like this, to explain why she thought Hyde deserved a second chance.  
  
*********  
  
Donna Pinciotti had just had the best afternoon. She and Eric had spent an amazing hour and a half making love. Now they were sitting at a table in the Hub, sharing a plate full of chili cheese fries. She was feeling absolutely giddy. So giddy, that she had practically forgotten all about the fact that her best friend was about to get her heart broken.  
  
Then she saw Jackie walk through the door and rush over to Hyde. She heard Hyde say that they needed to talk, and then watched the two of them walk out the door together.  
  
"Poor Jackie," she whispered.  
  
"What?" Eric asked.  
  
Donna turned back to her fiancé. "Oh, um, I think she's about to get some really bad news."  
  
"What?" Eric asked with a laugh. "Did Hyde finally come to his senses and remember that she's evil and he hates her?"  
  
"No!" Donna said, in her best, "you're an idiot" voice. She looked over at Eric and saw the adorable, "what the hell did I do now" look on his face, and her momentary irritation evaporated. Eric was the best guy she knew, and he would never hurt her like Hyde was about to hurt Jackie. She smiled and leaned over and gave him a kiss.  
  
"You know what? Kelso knows what happened, so he can fill you in. I'm going after Jackie. She's gonna need someone to talk to in a couple of minutes."  
  
She gave Eric another quick kiss, thinking to herself how lucky she was to have him, and then pushed away from the table and headed out the door.  
  
*********  
  
She found Hyde's car parked behind the Hub just in time to see Jackie jump out of the car. Jackie looked right at her then ran in the opposite direction, back toward the Pinciotti family home. *Oh, this is bad*, Donna thought. Usually, when Jackie was upset about something, she wanted to cry all over Donna's shoulder. If Jackie was running away to be by herself, she had to be seriously upset. Her first instinct was to go after Jackie, but when she saw Hyde sitting in his car, she decided she would rather give him a piece of her mind first.  
  
She walked over to the El Camino, opened the door, and got inside.  
  
"What the hell is the matter with you, dillhole!?"  
  
Hyde just sat there, with his head hunched over the steering wheel, barely moving. "I'm an idiot."  
  
If Donna didn't know any better, she would almost think Hyde was crying.  
  
"Okay, you know what?" she yelled. "How am I supposed to yell at you if all you do is sit there and act like you deserve it?"  
  
"I do deserve it." He lifted his head and looked over at her. She could see the pain in his eyes.  
  
She hesitated a moment before speaking again. "You know, I don't know how to talk to you if you're gonna act all guilty. Are you sure you're Steven Hyde?"  
  
He just scoffed and turned his head away from her.  
  
"How could you do it, Hyde? You know how much Jackie went through with that idiot Kelso. How could you hurt her like this? What were you thinking?"  
  
"I guess I wasn't. Donna, I really made a mess of things. I don't think she's gonna forgive me."  
  
Donna started to feel a little sorry for him in spite of herself. "Yeah, you did make a mess of things. Why'd you do it?"  
  
She hadn't really expected an answer - this was *Hyde* after all, the guy who always liked to pretend he didn't have any feelings. So, she wasn't exactly surprised when all he did was shrug. She was trying to think of something else to say to him, when he shocked her by asking, "Do you think maybe my mother was right about me?"  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Maybe I really am a worthless, good-for-nothing loser, just like my father."  
  
"Come on, Hyde. Don't talk like that. You're a good guy. most of the time. I just don't get how you could do this to Jackie. I thought you guys were really good together."  
  
"I don't know." Hyde hesitated a moment, then turned to face her, a look of uncertainly on his face. "If I tell you something, can we keep it just between us? I mean, like, you won't go blabbing to any of our loser friends?"  
  
"Well, sure, Hyde."  
  
"Including Forman?"  
  
"I promise. I won't tell anyone."  
  
"Okay." He looked out the window. "Okay. See, the thing is, ever since Jackie and I hooked up, I never thought it was for real, you know? It's like, I've just been waiting for her to, I don't know, thank me for the good time or something and go running back to Kelso."  
  
"Hyde, that's crazy!"  
  
"Is it?" He turned back to face her again. "Just look at their history, man. He cheats on her; she comes and cries on my shoulder. They break up, and I end up taking her to Prom. He cheats on her again, and she spends, like, months stalking me until I finally took her out on one lousy date, and next thing you know they're back together again. I don't know. I guess I always figured it was only a matter of time, until." he stopped, shook his head, and then started again. "I mean, why would she stick around when everyone else.?" His voice trailed off and he turned to look out the windshield again. "Forget it."  
  
For a minute, Donna wasn't sure what to say. She'd never heard Hyde say so many words at once unless he was ranting about government conspiracies. He'd always put on such a show of not caring about anything that it was easy to forget how much his parents had put him through. "Okay, you know what, Hyde? You can't think like that. Not everyone in your life has walked out on you. You've got Eric. And the Formans really care about you. And. and you know I'll always be your friend."  
  
"Thanks, man."  
  
"Besides, Jackie is crazy about you. Or at least she was, before this happened. She didn't walk out on you. *You* cheated on *her*. What the hell were you thinking?"  
  
"I just. I saw her with Kelso."  
  
"Wait. Hold on. Are you saying Jackie and Kelso...?"  
  
"Yes. No! I mean, they weren't. I don't know. There's this whole thing about Fez having a dream, and Kelso freaking out, and Jackie. Damn. I guess the thing is that I thought I saw something, but it turned out to be nothing. But, when I thought it was something, I was really pissed. And, God, I am such an idiot. And now, I've screwed up the best thing that ever happened to me."  
  
Donna was surprised by how bad she felt for Hyde. Generally, she thought cheaters should be drawn and quartered, or maybe something worse. But what Hyde had just described didn't exactly feel like cheating to her. After the way his parents had screwed him over, she could kind of get how he would have a hard time trusting people. And the way Kelso had chased after Jackie all year couldn't have helped matters.  
  
"Oh my God. You're in love with her!"  
  
Hyde turned his head to look at her again, without saying a word. He didn't have to; she could see it in his eyes.  
  
"Wow. You really are."  
  
"Whatever." Hyde shrugged. "It doesn't matter. She'll probably never talk to me again anyway."  
  
"You know what? I think. this whole thing sounds like it was just a big misunderstanding. What if I try to talk to her for you?"  
  
"You'd do that? After what I did?"  
  
"Yeah. Yeah, I think so." Donna nodded. "But you've got to promise me something. You've got to do something about your whole 'I don't give a crap' attitude, and you've really got to work on trusting people. This never would have happened if you had just trusted Jackie a little bit. And if you thought you saw something, you should have talked to her before you went off and acted like a moron. Or at least punched out Kelso. 'Cause, you know, that's always a good time, right?"  
  
"Heh, heh. Yeah. Yeah, it really is."  
  
They just sat there quietly for a while. After a couple of minutes, Donna said, "Okay, well, I'm gonna go home and try to talk to Jackie. Are you gonna be okay?"  
  
"Yeah. It's cool."  
  
"Okay, I'll catch you later." Donna started to get out of the car when she felt Hyde's hand on her arm.  
  
"Hey, Donna? This helped. Thanks, man."  
  
Donna smiled. "No problem. That's what friends are for." 


End file.
